Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
A Middle Way Forward for Psychedelic Science and Practice: Between Experience and Biology
Despite the scientific and clinical potential of psychedelics, advances in the field appear to be halted by significant epistemological issues, evident following the recent rejection of the FDA for MDMA therapy. These issues relate to the status of experience versus neuroplasticity for explaining, predicting, and confounding the potential benefits and risks of psychedelics. I will present avenues to address these issues based on a middle-way approach, which takes into consideration the synergistic effects between experience and neuroplasticity, the intersubjective nature of psychedelic therapy, and neurophenomenology as tools to address psychedelic phenomena beyond 1st person and 3rd person reductionisms.
Bio:
Chris Timmermann (PhD) pioneered the first investigations of the effects of short-acting psychedelics in the brain and mind, leading the DMT Research Group at Imperial College. His current work at UCL employs an interdisciplinary approach to psychedelics and meditation, their relationship to consciousness and applications in mental health. His work has been covered by the BBC, The New York Times, and Wired.
A Middle Way Forward for Psychedelic Science and Practice: Between Experience and Biology
Despite the scientific and clinical potential of psychedelics, advances in the field appear to be halted by significant epistemological issues, evident following the recent rejection of the FDA for MDMA therapy. These issues relate to the status of experience versus neuroplasticity for explaining, predicting, and confounding the potential benefits and risks of psychedelics. I will present avenues to address these issues based on a middle-way approach, which takes into consideration the synergistic effects between experience and neuroplasticity, the intersubjective nature of psychedelic therapy, and neurophenomenology as tools to address psychedelic phenomena beyond 1st person and 3rd person reductionisms.
Bio:
Chris Timmermann (PhD) pioneered the first investigations of the effects of short-acting psychedelics in the brain and mind, leading the DMT Research Group at Imperial College. His current work at UCL employs an interdisciplinary approach to psychedelics and meditation, their relationship to consciousness and applications in mental health. His work has been covered by the BBC, The New York Times, and Wired.
